Graham Crackers

Rebecca Reilly's recipe for mock graham crackers is a favorite from our summer 2007 issue. They taste like the real thing and are ideal for s-mores.

2 ¼ cups gluten-free flour mix (see below)
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 ¾ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons cold water
3 tablespoons honey or agave
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Mix together gluten-free flour mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt.
2. Using your fingertips, work butter into dry ingredients.
3. Stir in 3 tablespoons cold water, honey and vanilla. If dough is too dry, add a little more cold water, a teaspoon at a time.
4. Gather dough into a soft ball. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and line with parchment paper.
6. Cut two zip lock bags (gallon size) down each parallel side so that each opens out into one long sheet. Roll a piece of dough between the two sheets to about 1/8-inch thickness, depending on how thick you like your graham crackers. Cut into 2 x 3-inch pieces and prick lightly all over with a fork. Remove top zip lock sheet. Take remaining sheet with dough on it and turn it over. Lay it flat, rolled dough side down, onto prepared pan.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. If cookies spread and bake together, re-cut while still warm and loosen them. Let cookies cool slightly before transferring to cooling rack.

Gluten-Free Flour Blend
MAKES 4 ¾ cups1 cup sorghum or chickpea flour1 cup tapioca starch1 cup potato starch, corn starch or arrowroot½ cup amaranth, millet, quinoa or oat flour½ cup fine brown rice flour¾ cup sweet rice flourMix ingredients together until well blended. Keep refrigerated until used.

Soft Pretzels

This recipe comes to us from Becky Ilog at celiac.org

Ingredients:
2 packages of active dry yeast
1 and one half cups of water at 110F
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Dash salt
2 cups brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca starch
1 cup potato starch
4 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 Tablespoon baking soda
½ cup warm water
1 cup real butter, meltedToppings (See below)
Directions:Mix first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Let rest for 5 minutes.
Mix rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, xanthan gum in a medium bowl. Put half the flour mixture into the yeast mixture. Mix with a hand electric mixer on low speed until all ingredients mixed in. Add the other half of the flour. Mix with the mixer until well combined. Do not over beat.
Grease a bowl with Crisco or a few teaspoons of vegetable oil. Transfer the dough to this bowl and turn dough over so that it is greased on all sides. Cover with a damp towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Grease a large cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 550F. Mix baking soda and ½ cup warm water in a shallow pan (a round cake pan works well).
Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Gently roll each into a rope with your hands and/or on waxed paper. The dough is fragile and will come apart easily so rest the parts that are not between your hands on the waxed paper so that it is supported. Shape the rope into a pretzel shape. If parts of the dough feel dry, put a few drops of the baking soda water on your hands. Dip each pretzel in the baking soda/water, then lay them on the greased cookie sheet.
Bake 7-8 minutes. They will be a faint tan but not brown. Remove cookie sheet from oven when done. Dip each pretzel in the melted butter and place on a plate. Sprinkle generously with topping. Eat immediately.
Toppings: For salted pretzels, use sea salt, Kosher salt or pretzel salt. For cinnamon sugar pretzels, use ½ cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon mixed together. For Parmesan pretzels, sprinkle with a mixture of ¼ cup of parmesan cheese and 1 teaspoon of garlic salt.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

Originally found at glutenfree.wordpress.com
Ingredients
2 cups GF Flour mix (with xanthan gum)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/3 cup nonfat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Reserve hazelnuts.
Mix together wet ingredients: eggs, milk, extracts, and butter.
Mix together wet and dry until blended then mix on medium-high for 2 - 3 minutes.
Blend in chopped nuts.
Shape into two loaves about 4 inches wide, 8 inches long and 1 inch thick on parchment paper.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes.
Slice into 1/2 inch thick cookies. Return sliced pieces to parchment paper. Lay one side on to the parchment paper.
Bake an additional 20 minutes (turn over in the last five minutes). Keep in mind that biscotti - and our lovely gluten-free flours - have a tendency to continue to dry out a bit after baking. Take care not to over bake or over dry the cookies in the oven to prevent them from becoming too brittle and crumbly.
Allow to cool completely before storing.
Drizzle with melted chocolate (I think next time I’ll use white and dark chocolates not just dark.)
Enjoy with coffee in the mid-afternoon while wearing comfortable shoes, of course!
=)

Goldfish Crackers

Originally found at glutenfree.wordpress.com
Makes 150 small 1″ crackers
Ingredients:
2 T. butter
3 T. cottage cheese
2 T. mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese if you can’t find it)
1 egg
3/4 cup quinoa flour OR 1/2 cup sorghum + 1/4 teff OR 3/4 cup sorghum OR 1/2 cup sorghum + 1/4 amaranth, etc
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
8 ounces sharp (or mild) cheddar cheese, finely shredded (or 2 cups shredded cheddar)
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika (I used sweet paprika, but smoked is nice here also)Directions:
Cream together butter, cottage cheese and mascarpone (or cream cheese).
Add egg and beat together until well incorporated.
Dump in remaining ingredients and beat together for 3-6 minutes or until well combined and cheese is evenly distributed. The dough will come together but NOT be sticky. If it is, add 1 Tablespoon of sweet rice flour or flour of your choice (not a starch) until the dough stays together but is not sticky.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Divide the dough into two balls.
Roll one ball out between two sheets of parchment paper to 1/4″ thickness. The dough should be either shaped to fit your cookie or baking sheet. (12″ by 17″) or the shape doesn’t matter (if you will be using cookie cutters to make your crackers). At this point, either
use small cookie cutters (like my animal cookie cutters) to cut your crackers (I could fit 50 on a jelly roll pan that is 17″ long.)
OR
use your pizza cutter to cut the rolled dough into 5 strips that are 1″ wide along the long side. So 1″ wide strip that is 17″ long. Then divide each long strip into 10 small pieces by cutting again but along the short side with the pizza wheel into 1″ strips. Tap and puncture the cracker top with a fork if so desired.
At this point, if you would like to, sprinkle seasoning on your crackers (extra salt, crushed red pepper flakes, more paprika, freshly ground black pepper, etc).
Bake crackers for 7 - 9 minutes or until the tops begin to turn goldern (the bottoms will be browning faster!).
Serve warm with your favorite cracker dipping sauce or store in an airtight container for 3 days or freeze. (I think these will last longer than 3 days…but they never have around our house….LOL)

Goldfish Crackers

originally found at bookofyum

1 Package Chebe Bread Mix

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/3 cup water

2 tbsp oil

2 eggs

1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
cornmeal (optional)
Directions
Set oven to 375 F.
Combine Chebe bread mix with oil and eggs. Mix in cheese and garlic, and add water a little bit at a time. Knead dough until it is thoroughly mixed and forms a smooth ball.
Cut open a large Ziploc bag (gallon size) at the seams, leaving the bottom seam parallel to the opening intact. Place half your dough inside the ziploc bag, making sure a layer of plastic is between you and your rolling pin. Roll dough out carefully to about the same thickness as pie crust- thin! Take any cute cookie cutters you have (I used fish shaped ones) and cut out your crackers.
Dust a large, light colored cookie sheet (not the kind with air pockets) with cornmeal (if you want) and place your crackers on the sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes and then carefully turn them over using a very sharp metal spatula. Be careful of any cracker edges that have turned brown, as they will be very brittle. Bake for 5 more minutes or until golden on both sides and they have reached your desired texture. Remove from oven and enjoy your own Gluten Free Goldfish Crackers!